Bill Lester No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Race Notes
Las Vegas 350
| September 27, 2003
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
TV: SPEED (Live) 9:00 PM-Eastern Time
Radio: MRN (Live) 9:00 PM-Eastern Time

Topics of Interest

Bill Lester Performance Record at: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Date Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
10-13-02 12 17 143 of 146 Running $ 10,040
Totals 143 of 146 (97.9%) $ 10,040

No. 8 Team History:
Year Start Finish Driver
2002 12 17 Bill Lester
2001 21 25 Willy T. Ribbs

It's Time to Gamble a Little: When Bill Lester and the rest of the No. 8 Strauss Auto Parts/The Club Dodge Team pull back into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, they are going to be going for broke so to speak.

"We need to end this season strong," said Lester. "After last week's disappointment, we need to have a good run this week. This should be one of our best tracks, so we need to take advantage of this opportunity. We're in a battle to maintain 13th in the points standings. Robert Pressley and David Starr have been trying to make a run at us, and we need to be solid to fend them off."

Lester and the No. 8 Team enter the event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the 13th position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings, with six races to go in the season. Last week, unfortunately, the team was eliminated from the championship, but they can still get a top ten in the points standings, this was their goal when the season started back in February.

Pit Crew Championship: On Thursday, September 25, 2003 from 1:00PM to 3:30PM PST, the finals of the Dodge Pit Crew Challenge will take place at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Last year, the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Team finished in the third position. This year, they defeated the No. 1 Team in Daytona in February to qualify for the finals.
"This is a big deal for us," said Lester. "The guys on the No. 8 Team want to show everyone that they are among the very best in the Dodge camp. They have talked about it all season leading up to this event."

Appearances: While the team was working on the No. 8 Dodge in Las Vegas on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, Lester was not taking it easy. He was competing in the Challenge Bibendum at Infineon Raceway in Napa, California for DiamlerChrysler.

Championship Contenders: With six races remaining in the 2003 season, there are 12 drivers that can still mathematically win the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship.

This Week's Truck: The No. 8 Team will be racing "Trix" again this week, despite the damage done to the truck this past week at California Speedway. The BHR Team replaced the entire right side of the truck on the road.

Performance Chart: Trix
Date Location S/F Driver
5-16-03 Charlotte 1/15 Bill Lester
7-5-03 Kansas 2/10 Bill Lester
5-12-03 Kentucky 9/12 Bill Lester
7-26-03 Michigan 5/11 Bill Lester
8-8-03 Nashville 7/16 Bill Lester
9-13-03 California 7/28 Bill Lester

Lester's 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Event Results
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money
Daytona 8 18 97 of 106 Accident $ 15,165
Darlington 15 12 144 of 147 Running 9,465
Bakersfield 23 13 255 of 255 Running 8,190
Martinsville 17 19 250 of 250 Running 9,315
Charlotte 1 15 135 of 136 Running 11,890
Dover 15 11 198 of 200 Running 13,750
Texas 13 12 146 of 146 Running 13,165
Memphis 14 26 125 of 200 Running 8,990
Milwaukee 23 12 198 of 200 Running 10,215
Kansas 2 10 167 of 167 Running 14,000
Kentucky 9 12 150 of 150 Running 14,940
St. Louis 14 22 141 of 160 Accident 9,190
Michigan 5 11 100 of 100 Running 12,275
Indy 23 28 191 of 200 Running 7,090
Nashville 7 16 148 of 150 Running 8,640
Bristol 18 19 195 of 200 Running 9,315
Richmond 14 30 143 of 200 Accident 6,365
Loudon 12 13 200 of 200 Running 10,040
California 7 28 85 of 100 Suspension 10,690
Las Vegas (Next Event)

2003 Totals
Starts - 19
Poles - 1
Wins - 0
Top fives - 0
Top tens - 1
Earnings -$ 202,690
Laps Completed - 3166 of 3288 (96.2%)
Laps Led - 17 of 3288
Races Led - 2 of 19
DNF's - 4

2003 points standing after 19 of 25 races
Position Driver Points
1st Brendan Gaughan 2966
2nd Travis Kvapil 2924
3rd Ted Musgrave 2904
4th Dennis Setzer 2850
7th Bobby Hamilton 2722
10th Chad Chaffin 2428
13th Bill Lester 2127

Bill Lester Profile
Birthdate - February 6, 1961
Wife - Cheryl
Children - Alex
Residence - Atlanta, Georgia
Education - BS in E.E./C.S.
U.C. Berkeley

NASCAR Truck Series Career Statistics
Year-By-Year
Years Starts Wins Top 5's Top 10's Money
2000 1 0 0 0 $ 7,770
2001 5 0 0 0 35,700
2002 22 0 0 0 264,766
2003 19 0 0 1 202,690
Totals 47 0 0 1 $510,926

Career Best Start: 1st @ Lowes Motor Speedway 5-16-03
Best Finish: 10th @ Kansas Speedway 7-5-03
Biggest Purse: $ 15,165 @ Daytona Intl. Speedway 3-14-03

Lester Quotes

"We're still looking for sponsorship for this team next year, but hopefully something will come up before the end of the season. We've had our ups and downs this year, but all in all, it has been a year of many firsts. We won our first pole in May at Lowes Motor Speedway. Then we got our first top ten finish at Kansas Speedway. It's going to be very disappointing if we do not get someone to come onboard to help us for 2004."

"We had a bad week last week, but we should be fine this week. I called the team from Sears Point, and they were working on the truck, to replace the side I knocked off in last week's race. Kip McCord said that everything was going well, and Trix would be ready to race on Friday. So that's all I can go on."

"We're coming up on the 20th race of the season, and so far, it has been filled with good times and bad. We've had some really great racing luck, and we've had some really bad things happen. Overall, I feel like we've had a good season. We did want to have a few more top ten finishes, but the season is not over."

 

 

 

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